The Sixteenth Year
by pantedgieQueen13
Summary: I'm thinking that this war is a bad idea. Too many lives I can't be responsible for losing, so many times I'm too stupid for forethought. So many times knowledge just gets in the way. Time to start the action! Rating may change.
1. The Calling

Part I: The Calling

I had everything going my way. Another year had come and gone, and the breezy, rainy spring was quickly making way for warm, pleasant summer. And, with summer would come my birthday.

I was to be sixteen this year, which isn't as big of a deal for boys as it is for girls. Boys just wanna be twenty-one so they can legally drink beer. Me? I'd only drink it if there was nothing around to drink and I'd been mulling around in the desert with no water for ten days! Putting underage drinking aside, of course…

But, anyway, summer was quickly on its way and I was awaiting my birthday. Another year older, another year wiser, and another year faster for sure! I wanted to beat Eggman before the eve of my twenty-first birthday, and that vow skidded to a halt at the front of my mind as June 23 drew nearer.

June twentieth. It was a sweltering hot day and I was glad for an ice-cold lemonade by my side and a shady tree to sleep under. Tails and Amy were a few feet away, talking under the sprinkler, and Cream was with her mom. Knuckles and Eggman I didn't have a care about, although my senses were on high alert despite the heat for either of them. And Shadow.

My dark twin was probably out in space. I opened one emerald orb and stared up past the branches into the hazy blue sky above my head. "Well," I said to myself. "At least it's cold up there."

I took a sip of my lemonade and inched up off my back spines a little. Cream and Vanilla had returned and the little rabbit was talking excitedly, her chao Cheese buzzing around her head like a bumble bee. Speaking of those fuzzy creatures, I huffed at one who thought my lemonade was a flower and tried to hear what Cream was saying. My ears could pick up different frequencies, like twin radios built in my head.

Vanilla had put on some old Beach Boys music, (or something), which was pretty catchy, but Cream was talking far too fast for me to interpret. But, from the look on my friends' faces, it was something delicious. I spied Tails lick his lips, and thought I caught the words "ice cream" somewhere along the line.

"Mmm," my stomach rumbled as a warm breeze blew like a breath of air in my face. I figured I could use a cool treat. After all, I deserved it. And, it was such an unbearably long time until lunch. I rolled to my feet and sped down towards my friends.

Tails laughed as Amy held her skirt down while I entered. Cream held to Cheese from the rough winds. "Guess you heard the part about the ice cream, huh Sonic?"

I guess that should've offended me, but it was too close to my birthday for me to get mad at my friends. So, instead, I laughed. "Yeah, I did." My belly grumbled again and I sighed, stretching lazily.

Amy hissed at me, but I could tell she adored me still. "Three more days of being fifteen to go." She told me, as if she'd been counting down the days till my birthday. Correction. She probably _had_.

I shrugged. "So what? Doubt sixteen'll feel any different than fifteen."

"You're getting pretty old, Sonic." Tails teased. Cream giggled.

I opened one eye. "Sixteen isn't _ancient_, Tails. Anyway, Eggman's still older than me by _centuries_." I stretched my hand out indefinitely, as if tracing it across an imaginary timeline. "Anywho, where's that ice cream?"

"You need to be patient," Amy told me.

It was _not _in my nature to be patient. However, I figured I would need to learn patience at _some_ time in my life. Might as well be right now. I stretched out in the lawn chair and turned up the volume on the stereo.

Eventually, Vanilla called for us to come get it. Pretty soon, we were all enjoying a sweet and icy treat. It was mint chocolate chip, my favorite flavor, and I smiled at Vanilla before thanking her a thousand times.

"What are you hoping to get for your birthday, Sonic?" Tails asked me, licking the end of his spoon thoughtfully.

I knew enough about Tails to tell that he wanted to know if he got the right present. I shrugged. "The usual stuff. A few guitar strings, new music, you know, like that. But you need to chill, Tails." I added calmly. "It doesn't take much to please me."

That was true. I grew up a poor boy and my parents were poor before I got separated from them. So, what I'd owned while with them was very little except these gloves and shoes, which grew with me via a magic spell. My mom had been a sorcerer, so she cast a spell on my favorite shoes and gloves when I was a child. That's mostly how they managed to survive everything I'd been through.

Tails offered a small smile. I'd given him his confidence back. Amy was inside helping Cream with something, so for a while the boys could be alone with our thoughts. Summer was like my mother, in a way. Warm and soft and loving. But, don't we all feel that way about our birth months? Like they're a long lost friend, or something.

Tails yawned and I chuckled. The song "Fun, Fun, Fun" blared throughout the patio.

~16~16~16~

June twenty-second. Another hot day, but today there was rain. Ew. I really hoped there wouldn't be rain on my birthday.

Rain makes you do things you wouldn't otherwise. Like, turn to the computer or television.

I was on a popular video website, wasting my life watching strangely entertaining parodies of shows I'd vaguely heard of. The weather channel blared in the background. Why Tails was at my house, I would never know. The little fox often preferred his hill-top lair-of-a-scientist to my shabby shack. Nonetheless, he was here and gathered around my small television, twisting yarn over twin needles.

"What's it saying?" I asked, studying the cords of a popular song and grabbing my own beautiful custom-made guitar by the neck.

"Hmmm," Tails murmured, looking up from his busywork. "Rain's supposed to stop tomorrow."

"Good!" I sighed in relief. "Hope they're right." My fingers pressed against the frets and familiar old strings of my beautiful red and white guitar. Its belly curved over my thighs like a loving girlfriend.

"And what if they're not?" Tails quizzed factiously.

"I will personally go over to the station and strangle them." I answered decisively, my fingers flying up and down the strings, pressing them against the neck every time I needed to strike a note. The guitar wasn't plugged in, so the notes made a hollow, dead sound as I played.

Tails chuckled. "You wouldn't!"

"Not really," I said thoughtfully, biting my lip as I tried a new note, "but I'd sure give 'em hell."

"You would." Tails answered affectionately.

I nodded, my quills falling over my shoulders, making the strings hard to see. It didn't matter. I knew the cords by heart and this guitar was my old friend. It'd been with me since the beginning and it would be with me to the end. "Of course I would. It's me."

"Girls call it Sweet Sixteen. Wonder why that is."

I shrugged. "It's coming of age, I guess. Most cultures…" I stopped, for I was about to let my infinite knowledge get the better of me. You see, I only _pretended _to be stupid. "…coming of age for girls was sixteen. They could marry and stuff at that age."

Tails said nothing for a long while. He knew all too well about my being a natural genius and that I didn't let it out too often. How did this happen, you ask?

I'd been a loner basically since my life began. I had two short years with my parents before Eggman herded me like a sheep into the great wide world. I learned through trial-and-error the ways of the wilds and grew to love it. I'd perfected my power, then.

Finally, Tails sighed and continued on with his work. "You know, if you really tried, Sonic, you could be an inventor."

"That's not me, Tails. I'm a man of action, and I can't be stuck in one place for long." My fingers slipped over a fret and I stomped my foot in frustration.

"I heard that." Tails added shortly after my foot hit the ground.

"I _never_ mess up that cord!" I growled darkly.

"Maybe you need some food." Tails suggested.

I wondered if that was it. It was easy for me to lose focus when I wasn't in a life-or-death fight…and even easier if I was getting hungry. I slipped one hand behind my guitar and ran my thumb down my midsection. Now that food was in the front of my mind, I realized I could use a snack.

Tails chuckled when he saw me walk towards the kitchen.

Ignoring the discontent in the back of my mind from being watched by Tails in the next room, I popped a piece of meaty pizza into the microwave, set the time and pressed start. I cracked open a soda can and downed about half of it while waiting for the pizza to be done. Now that the smell of it was beginning to fill the air, I began to feel hungry, my stomach softly grumbling as if talking to itself.

I ignored the tightness in my throat and the shiver of delight that rushed down my back when the pizza was done. Proudly, I returned to my seat by the computer and went back to the video-sharing sight for some "dinner theater".

Tails had changed the channel to some nature program and had traded the yarn for a sketchbook. Obviously, he was looking for something in that nature program. I happened to take a glance at it and quickly looked away.

A vast grassland.

It made me homesick, made me long for the road, my aching legs, the wind in my face, the bugs in my teeth, anything! Dismally and almost losing my appetite, I turned back to watch the video on the website.

I studied the way the lead guitarist strummed the cords, my mind automatically slowing it down so I could watch every strike. The sponge that was my conscious mind soaked up the information while my subconscious nagged me to eat the pizza. I swallowed another bite, but found that the grassland image had really hit a nerve. I sighed and pulled my legs up to the chair, crossing them indignantly and setting the pizza aside.

Tails looked back at me and spied the pizza lying uneaten beside me. "Lose your appetite?" His voice was really very surprised. There were very few things that kept me from eating.

"Homesick," I mumbled, lending my chin to one gloved hand.

"Oh," Tails turned away. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean…"

"It's fine," I interrupted, "just fine. I'm not really hungry anyway." That last part I had to chew on. Could I really bypass the temptation?

Both eyes rested on the pizza. It actually didn't look so bad. I shouldn't be miserable, I told myself. _Make the most of fifteen._ I nodded, making a mental decision, and took a huge bite into the slice of rich, meaty pizza.

After all, it just wasn't like me to mope.

~16~16~16~

June twenty-third. Happy birthday to me!

Eggman was so nice to come and congratulate me on my birthday. Yes, of course he tried to kill me, but it's only natural. After all, he knows as well as I do of my vow to defeat him for good before the eve of my twenty-first birthday and how good I am at keeping promises.

So, I'm beating him up, right? But, there was a weird calling singing to me from the far east. I didn't like it.

Sailing up into the air, I dove down towards the machine, curling into a saw blade as I did so and tearing through the glass window and shattering the systems. Eggman was forced to retreat, and I let my friends work clean-up. My mind was still on that calling from the east. The wind blew past my ears, singing to me for help.

My mind was made up. Tomorrow, I was going east.


	2. Burns

Part II: Burns

_The city's making me cry._

_My heart is singing songs of sadness._

_For the sake of the ones I love,_

_Why can't this war stop?_

Sonic was finally sixteen.

Every spirit that ruled the land heard it. Great god of light Apollo and his twin sister Artemis sat on their thrones, wondering what to do with him now. It would be only a few more years before Robotnik's rein of terror would end and the world would be free of his treachery. But, that was a long way to go. And Sonic had many quests ahead of him before he could complete the task he'd been born to do.

Apollo had gave him the temperamental drive that fueled his being, and so gave him loyalty and such other things. Apollo had been his guide from the beginning, but Artemis was nowhere near his side. Great goddess of the moon, however she hated to admit it, needed him now. Her beautiful city of the East, Moonshine Land, was being ruled by an evil dictator who had fallen from good to evil and had lost favor with her.

"Brother?" She said, going to Apollo one day. "What will you do about Moonshine Land?"

Apollo waved a hand over Sonic, making him hit a note on his guitar he'd been going to miss. "Hmmm," said he, looking upon Sonic with love. Though Sonic in no way believed in any sort of "God", he had not lost favor with Apollo. "I know not, dear sister. What do you propose?"

Artemis saw the opportunity to rid herself of the blue spiny hedgehog her brother loved dearly. "Send Sonic."

Apollo gasped and nearly upset his globe which he used to watch Sonic, making the hedgehog strike a wrong note in his haste. "Not he!" The god of light growled.

"Why not? After all," Artemis hopped on her throne and swung her legs, petting her most faithful hunting hound. "He doesn't adore you as much as you adore him. In fact, he hardly believes!"

"It doesn't matter!" Apollo defended him. "He is like my son in a way, for his parents helped to keep my ruling spirit alive while all the other Olympians died. His mother, though she wasn't a virgin, was devoted to you and helped keep you alive. Why should I not love their son? Why do you not love him?"

"I have no tolerance for those who do not worship." Artemis took her brother's golden arrow of pain and cocked it in her bow. "Send him to save my city or I'll strike him down now!"

"Sister," Apollo breathed. "You know he is the one that will save the world we know."

"You can find someone else," Artemis shrugged, already having a perfect lock on Sonic's rapidly-beating heart. "Gotchya."

"Okay, okay!" Apollo pleaded. "I'll send him, I'll send him! Just please don't harm him!"

Artemis smirked and hugged her brother. "Thank you, Apollo."

"Yeah, yeah," replied the god, sending a message on the wings of the wind to his beloved "son".

~16~16~16~

I looked up at the city gates far above my head. A sign stretched across the two powdery white Greek columns cheerfully bid me welcome to Moonshine Land. The sky was dark. A crescent moon graced this with pale silver light. Stars twinkled above my head.

I yawned in spite of myself. This instant darkness was quickly making me sleepy and I longed to know the time.

As if answering my request, a clock chimed the hour. It made me literally jump, for the sound seemed to come from under me. After clinging to one of the columns fearfully for a few long seconds, I slid down it fireman-style and observed what I was standing on.

It was a beautiful clock, with fancy numbers I had trouble deciphering and a full moon complete with craters shining behind it. I was afraid to stand on it, for it was so beautiful. I shook my head rapidly back and forth, stretching my sleepy limbs, and peeked into the city. I thought the clock struck noon, not midnight.

There were very few people in the streets. Many were peering into shop windows, mostly small families with two or three children. The parents, all of various species (even humans!), often had their faces pressed against the shop windows, looking greedily at the hams and steaks hanging in the window. My tongue wet my lips, but I could ignore my own meager needs for now.

I noticed that the children sat at their parents' feet, playing tidily-winks with pebbles and blades of grass. It seemed to be around noon, for some people were having lunches on park benches. I observed a toddler chase a bird from its resting place. Even though it would appear nothing was out of the ordinary, except for the nighttime-like darkness, it was so eerily quiet that I feared my own footfalls would cause echoes throughout the city!

My eyes were attracted to some strange rounded flowers on crescent-shaped stems. Curious, I traced my sight up the building, finding it rounded. Everything here was round like the moon, or crescent-shaped when being completely round was impossible, and I felt this strange, homey aura all around.

I stepped cautiously forward, only to find some glass picnic tables under awnings and brightly-colored umbrellas. A Doberman in an olive green uniform happened to be eating a sub. I followed my eyes towards a little raccoon boy, standing about ten feet from the uniformed dog, his eyes on the sub and his tail swishing in thought.

From where I was, I couldn't hear the exchange, which, I thought, was strange because the town was so quiet. The little boy seemed to ask something of the Doberman. The dog ordered him to get lost, but the raccoon took a step closer, asking for the sandwich. Instead of yelling at him, the Doberman drew a fearsome-looking gun and aimed right at the little boy. The child turned and ran, but the dog shot him in the back.

My ears flattened against my head as my fists clenched with anger. The mother and her two daughters tried to approach, but the dog held up the gun again, making the parents stay at bay. Then, a muscular bear in a similar olive-gray uniform beckoned to the Doberman. The dog laughed and went to join his compatriot.

When they were gone, I ran forward and examined the boy's wounds. It was a bullet, straight through his head. He wasn't breathing anymore; there was no hope of him gaining life again. I sighed, distressed that one so young had lost his life over something so stupid and glanced up at his family. "It's all right," I said, compelled to speak in whispers for fear the city might fall if I spoke any louder. "You can come and get your son now."

The three women moved forward.

_I loved you yesterday, _

_Before you killed my family._

I watched the mother's eyes swell with tears as she picked up her son's bloody body. My eyes weren't on her, my emotions too strong to withstand losing someone, even one I didn't know.

The mother stood and bowed before me. "Thank you, sir."

"Yes, thank you," echoed the daughters, bowing as well.

I smiled. "It's no problem. Really."

"In return," the mother said, "let me tell you something. You must be inside a building or out of sight before nine. They will be merciless if you're not."

I nodded. "Thank you. I'll be careful."

"Please do!" The little girls echoed. "For your sake!" Then, they let their mother lead them away.

I took one final sweep of the city before deciding to chill out. I sniffed for the blood scent…but found it everywhere. My feet pounded against the circular tiles unendingly. Huffing and accepting that I was lost in this look-alike city where every corner you turned looked the same, I settled upon a rooftop and allowed myself to drift into slumber.

_Lyrics from this chapter are __Empty Walls__ by __Serj Tankian_. _Thanks for reading! _


	3. It's All Alike

Part III: It's All Alike

I yawned and stretched out. "Ah, good morning, sunshine," I murmured sleepily, "missed ya." One emerald orb opened and I looked upon the world once again. "So sad to be without my guitar," I mumbled as a yawn distorted my words.

I was pretty hungry right now. Mornings were tough for me. I was a summer birthday, a little crab. I think Tails wrote that on my birthday card this year. Wow. So, I'm a crab. What do you want with me? Crabs are cool. They taste good.

I shook my head back and forth rapidly, trying to focus my thoughts. I felt like scrambled eggs, all mashed up and messed together. But, that's what happens when you mix a superfast hedgehog with a whole lot of book smarts. I stretched again, listening to my stomach rumble. Thinking about eggs made me crave them.

I sighed, for I had no money. And there was no way I was going vegetarian. I huffed, staring wistfully at the ham in the window of the butcher shop within my line of sight. Juicy, succulent, tasty, honey-glazed…my mouth watered and I wet my lips, tiny tail wagging in spite of itself.

I was alerted by a guard yelling. "Hey! You! Get away from there!"

I jumped and moving like a seal towards water, peered over the side of my rooftop hideaway.

A skinny tiger male was standing in front of the butcher's shop, both arms raised above his head. A rather pathetic excuse for a ham lay in the dust at his feet. The clock chimed seven times. _For seven AM or seven PM?_ I wondered. Holding a gun pointed at him was a white rabbit in the same olive-gray uniform the Doberman I'd seen yesterday had worn. He was holding another odd weapon, this one with a blue laser twisting around the pointed center.

The tiger mumbled something, his face ashamed. Some townsfolk were beginning to gather, some groaning and rubbing their stomachs. I was reminded of my own hunger by this display and inched downward until my belly rested against the shingles of the rooftop.

"I don't want to hear your excuses!" Snapped the white rabbit, female by her voice. It was utterly impossible to tell otherwise. Her boobs were nearly invisible! "You'll gather at the town square later this evening for your shooting."

The tiger winced and I assumed that "shooting" was not a popular sporting event. The white rabbit swept her gun around the assembly. "Well? What are you all standing around here for?! Scram!"

Everyone scrammed. The streets were quiet, except for a white paper, which tumbled down the sidewalk and caught against the measly ham. It fluttered in the breeze like a bird that can't quite get off the ground to fly.

The white rabbit smiled in satisfaction and hopped away down one of the various alleyways. I stared at the white paper wistfully. The white rabbit had said the shooting was to be this evening. But…what was it right now? Morning? Afternoon? Evening? I glanced up.

The sun wasn't in the middle of the sky. It might've been around eleven. So much for breakfast.

Making sure no one was around, I leapt agilely off the rooftop, landing on one of the moon-shaped cobblestones beneath my feet, and explored similar terrain, stretching my leg muscles to their limits until my heart sang against my chest, my breath became rushed, and my feet were pounding against the ground like the hearts of Siamese twins, part of one body.

After much searching, I found what I was looking for. By now, it was dark again. This time around, the dark made me feel more alert, probably because of what had happened last night. Day. Whatever.

I wondered what was up with this place as I stepped upon the moon clock again. It chimed just as I rested the tip of my sneaker upon it, signaling the half hour.

I'd been right before; it had been seven in the morning. I could tell because the numbers were bright red, signifying the sun. I laughed at my boundless knowledge and studied the stars above my head. No moon.

I thought that was odd, considering this was Moonshine Land. But, maybe this early in the morning, there was no moon. I humphed, completely confused and out of my element. As the clock's second hand ticked on, he sky began to get brighter, as if the sun was just coming up. This confounded me.

Feeling compelled to sit in the shade because of the summer heat I was suddenly very aware of, I crept to an alleyway just in time to watch another strange tourist attraction of Moonshine Land.

A thousand businesses came to life. Bakeries the city over opened their jingling doors wide open, children ran out of their houses, tripping over their own feet and toys so strange I had no time to even chew over what they could be. The town seemed to be at its noisiest now. I scratched my head, scaling a drainage pipe to get a better view of the commotion.

The smell of freshly baked bread hit me square in the chest like a huge bomb. Indeed, a bomb of flavor had thus exploded in my face as soon as I was close enough to see what was going on. The fresh smells of sourdough breads, cookies, pies, cakes, and all other manner of baked goods city-wide opened my strongest senses; taste and smell.

Oh! The smell of sourdough bread is an indescribable sweet, buttery, almost- oh do words fail to describe it!- grainy, but sugary and mouth-watering. I felt like the Christian deity Jesus when He was tempted by Satan! Only I, though I am a strong, durable hero, am not as strong and am unable to resist temptation.

My mouth watered indeed, my tongue licking my chops as my stomach began to complain within me. How I longed to lay back and pick my teeth with comfort! My ears were alerted to the reason I had climbed up here.

A chubby, jolly human baker in a square hat that rested flat upon his bald head wearing a flour-stained apron tied tightly around his jiggly belly stepped upon a crate of some sort and spoke rather loudly to his congregation with the zeal of a prophet.

"Fellow Moonshine Landers," he cried, "we have had enough of this rule where we cannot buy our children a loaf of bread!" Several of his followers dispersed as they heard what he was talking about. I myself was lost in the scents of sourdough bread and was barely paying attention. "The choice is yours, my friends!" He urged as the last of his "friends" hid away behind buildings, in alleyways, or even in their homes. "The time is now! Revolt! Rebel! Re-" But he had no time to finish.

I watched in horror as four black bears with thickly muscled arms grabbed him around his middle and held him still while a more agile cheetah grabbed his neck with both hands. A human man, tall with a gait that resembled a plate of jello though he was as skinny as a sapling, came forward and rested a greasy hand against the man's chest. "Pity, Othello," murmured the man in a dark voice that resembled the hiss of a snake. "You were so close to the line. Haven't I told you to be careful what you say in these streets?" The man turned away, closing his eyes. "Put him down, boys. He'll be there for the shooting later, eh, Othello?" And the grin of a madman crossed his face.

I stood, completely appalled. Not caring if I was seen, I hastened across rooftops, clearing my head and scanning for anything that could give me means to spread the word of rebellion.

It was time for me to stop sitting on my lazy hedgehog butt and get to work.


	4. I Start a Revolt

Part IV: I Start a Revolt

I sat in front of that huge brick wall, thinking. I had a spray pain can firmly in my dominant hand. Absently, I shook it, listening to the liquid bounce around within. This wall was my canvas. It was perfect, large enough not to be ignored, and right in the center of town so everyone would see it.

But, how to word what I wanted to say? I switched the way I'd crossed my legs, placing left over right now, and lent my chin to the palm of my other hand. You wouldn't know it, but I was deep in thought, the rattling of the paint ringing in my ears. I had to do all I could to make noise. This place was too quiet for me.

Several people were already looking my way quizzically, but no one bothered to disturb me. I wondered if I looked like someone you didn't want to talk to, but thought better of it. These people were too scared to stand up for themselves. This was why I was here, right?

As my mind wandered, it pulled up the lyrics to a song I'd memorized as soon as the single was out on the shelves at the local music store. They were catchy, and about rebellion, oddly enough. Before I could register my actions, I'd rolled to my feet and started spraying the pain on my canvas in large, bold letters.

Regroup and Rebel.

I finished the "l" in "rebel", and stepped back to admire my handiwork. My penmanship was not worthy of an "A" plus, but it sufficed for when I needed it. Just to make sure I was understood, I tacked on the same words in two other languages I knew were universal planet-wide. Another product of my vast knowledge.

If people had been curious before, _now_ they were intently focused on the words I'd written. A little girl tugged her mother's skirt and pointed the three words out excitedly. "Regroup and rebel!" She read with an ease that didn't match her age. "Regroup and rebel!"

It was obvious she didn't know the meanings of the words because her mother lifted her into her arms and gave her a lollipop which shut her up. But, the older girl that was with them, about my age, maybe a year or two younger, was studying them as if trying to decipher code. She smiled; it was obvious she got my message.

Other teens were starting to gather about the sign. I drifted away, blending into the crowd as only I could. I saw many of the teenagers open phones and pagers, fingers rapidly moving over the keypads. I hadn't expected people my age to take such an interest, but I would take whatever I could get.

I'd been humming, admiring my work, when a tap on my shoulder made me jump. My heart flew into my throat as I turned, ready to run or fight as situation demanded.

Neither was needed. I recognized the girl who'd smiled at my words. "Hi." She grinned, a half-human. Her ears wiggled under her light brown ponytail.

My heart crawled down into my chest, where it beat hotly. She was so beautiful in person. "Hi," I breathed.

"So, you aren't afraid of being shot?"

"Huh?" I was confused now. She'd lost me, especially because her eyes had me preoccupied.

"The sign," she gestured to the wall, where the teens were texting their friends.

"Oh! Yeah, it doesn't bother me." I stretched my hand offhandedly over my head. "They can't catch me, anyway."

She giggled, her bright purple eyes closing. I felt myself grow hot. I hadn't felt this way in a long time. "Hey, so what's your name?"

"Sonic." I answered, trying to kill my heart's passionate beating.

"Mine's Fiona. But, you can call me Fi." She held out her hand and I took it. "Do you have a place to crash?" She asked after we'd placed our hands at our sides again.

I shook my head.

"Oh. Well, you can stay at my place, if you want." A small smile scrunched up her face. It was so cute! I could see a little pink nose twitching under the ring of rounded, silver glasses. I guessed she was part hamster, though I saw no small tail.

"Are you sure it's okay with your mom?" I asked, kicking up some dust absently.

"Sure. She's been bugging me to get some boy friends anyway," Her arms crossed over her chest.

I felt a smile cross my face. _Boy friend. Boyfriend._ "Okay," I answered at last.

"Cool. My house is the forth one after the moon clock on the left." Fi leaned forward and pecked me on the cheek. "I'll see you later, Sonic!"

My hand pressed over the kiss, as if to seal it into my skin forever. I'd started a rebellion, found a place to crash, and made friends with a cute girl, all in what I guessed to be a single day. Wow.

I wondered if they kept world records for stuff like that, and thought that surely no one in the world could beat _my_ record!


	5. Seeds of Rebellion

Part V: Seeds of Rebellion

No matter how much I chewed it over, I was still stuck on one thing; why those teens, my age group, would care about rebellion? I thought I was the one exception to "leave it to someone else to do it" attitudes kids have. I was shocked, yet somewhat glad. I didn't have to speak up; I could talk to my peers.

It was sunny again, but dim. I guessed it was getting close to evening, but in a place like this, who could tell? A faint outline of the moon, like a melted marshmallow in hot cocoa, was already present in the sky, promising a full, beautiful, endless darkness kind of night, where the pale shadow of the moon lit your way and created pools of moonlight where the sun's rays once ruled. A shiver of delight ran down my spine.

The night, tired as it sometimes made me, was my home turf. It was something I'd gotten used to during the sleepless nights that came with being what I was. And, as I got older, a secret preference for the cover of darkness formed within me.

Other things, however, came with night. Such as dinner. I groaned as my throat tightened and I began to feel just a bit off balance. I was beginning to realize that Moonshine Land, as beautiful as it was, had broken my internal clock. I felt like I hadn't had a bite to eat in three days instead of just one. I didn't even know if a whole day had passed!

I wobbled unsteadily, no longer at home on my feet, and gazed below me at the full moon beneath the clock. My focus on the white light coming from behind the clock made me lose what little balance I had left and before I knew it, I was on my side against the clock face.

I sneezed, more as a reaction to my sudden situation than to allergies or dust, and rolled over onto my stomach, waiting for the clock to strike the hour or for the strength to stand again. Neither came. I yawned and rubbed one eye sleepily. I was tired and hungry, but I needed a plan for the rebellion. After all, I had planted the seed and the tree had started to grow. What I needed now was a way to get the kindred spirits together.

The giant clock's chime got me to my feet at an instant. I counted six times and looked below me. Six PM. The numbers were a deep blue against the pale moon. And, if I remembered correctly, one hour until the shooting. That sent a shiver down my spine. Maybe rescuing the two destined to die would be a way to set off rebellion. But, it was too soon! And, my face would be on the top of this government's "most wanted" list in due time. If only they were going to jail instead of being shot!

"That's it!" I snapped my fingers and smoothed a hand down the ruffled fur on my chest. It was the perfect way in! All I had to do was…oh. I realized that I had no idea how I was going to do that. My mind was far too scrambled, anyway, to think clearly. I wondered why…until my ungrateful stomach let out a groan. I wondered why hunger was the thing to stop me, but remembered why I'd come here in the first place.

Fiona. I walked down the houses on the left, silently counting, until I reached the forth one. If she hadn't told me where her house was, I would've never found it. Each house, I might remind you, looked exactly the same. _Everything _looked the same, and it was starting to make me seasick. I knocked on the door quietly.

I didn't have to wait long. Fiona was expecting me. She opened the door, and I found her dressed in a pale blue and green kimono hanging open over a tee shirt and shorts. A cool breath of air greeted me from the inside. It was obviously much colder in there. "Hi." Fiona's hamster ears were sticking out now, her brown locks long about her shoulders.

"Hi." I managed a weak wave. She stepped aside and I entered. The scent, again, hit me like a bomb. Only this time, it was _much_ more tempting.

Ham. I felt my tongue cross my dry lips. I felt like I hadn't eaten in days, but I managed to restrain myself. Fiona sat on the couch and I crossed my legs by her feet, content on the floor. I was shivering, so much more adapted to warmth than cold, but Fiona was indifferent.

"Why do you guys get food?" I found myself asking, trying to keep my teeth from chattering.

Fiona chuckled. "Because we have no sons."

"Excuse me?" I thought this was a rather odd reason.

"Boys go into the army, you see. They didn't get away with killing male babies, since so many people got smart and hid them, so they just starve the sons out of families."

"Really?" Again, I found this odd. My head found its way to my knees, which were curled against my chest. It didn't do much to silence my stomach and I heaved a huge sigh as it growled again.

Fiona wrinkled her nose. "It's disgusting."

"What's disgusting?" I asked, lifting my head up off my knees to look at her.

"The ham." She hissed. "It smells bad."

I shook my head a little to toss my quills around my face. "Are you a vegetarian?" I couldn't eat something she wasn't going to. I was easily getting over most of my crush, I realized. But, on the other hand, I wasn't going to live on wiry grasses for the rest of my time here. Ick!

"I didn't choose to be," was her airy reply as she turned herself upside down so her feet were dangling over the edge of the couch and her head rested by my shoulder. "But, I'm part hamster. We're not built to be omnivores. My stomach can't take meat."

"That sucks," I chuckled. "I couldn't live without it!"

She smiled at me. "You'll have to tell me if it tastes good."

I nodded. "It will, no matter what." When I was starving, my empty stomach wasn't picky. Normally, I could be a real pain in the ass about my food. I was kind of glad I was hungry enough to eat pretty much anything.

Fiona laughed and rolled to the floor. "So, have you thought about starting the rebellion?"

I sighed again, my eyes closing. "Well…I had this one idea…"

Fiona punched me lightly in the arm. "Well? Are you going to tell me?"

I inched away from her punch, a smile crossing my face. "Is there any way to get those people out of the shooting and into…oh, I don't know…maybe jail?"

She giggled at my nonchalant attitude, than became serious. "It'd be pretty hard." She frowned. "It would take a lot of trouble-starting teens or a rhino herd to do that."

"That can be arranged." I grinned.

Fiona stared at me quizzically. "How?"

My eyelids became low over my eyes slyly, the grin on my face getting wider. "I'm the Fastest Thing Alive."

~16~16~16~

_(Lol, I just pressed "21" without thinking about it! Oh no! An omen!)_

I stretched and let a huge yawn cross my lips. "Ah. That's better." True, for I was a whole lot warmer inside because of my recent meal, my stomach churning happily. The ham had tasted perfect, just the right amount of hickory smoke and honey glaze. Delicious, and quite filling. "Now, back to business."

Fiona and I were relaxing in her bedroom, she sprawled across her bed, and I with a map of the city under tracing paper in my lap. I was using a rather large history text book for a base as I traced a compass across the surface of the thin paper, muttering to myself about coordinates and longitude and latitude.

Fiona leaned over my shoulder, watching me scribble notes in the margins, quickly flipping back and forth between map and tracing paper. "What are you doing?" She asked, a laugh stuck in her throat.

"Mapping possible escape roots and hiding places in case we get caught or need a quick getaway." I sketched a drainpipe that conveniently led out of the local jail and just outside the city's gates.

"Oh." Fiona rolled over onto her back. "We'd better get going. It's almost seven."

I nodded. "I hear ya. C'mon!" I got up and offered my hand to her. As soon as she took it, I scooped her up into my arms.

"What are you doing?" She quizzed. She didn't sound angry, which was good.

"We don't have time for normal running speed." I told her. "It's time to go fast."

As soon as I thought about running, I was transcending reality in a beautiful burst of silvers, browns, blues, and whites. I was so close to the square, I could almost taste it.

We were going to water the tree of rebellion. And, of course, that had to start immediately.


	6. A Little Taste

Fiona giggled in my arms as we ran along, seeming perfectly adapted already to the speeds we were going. My heart thumped wildly as I felt her half-human hair tickle my arms as I held her tightly to me. We were going pretty fast, and I didn't want to hurt her.

"Is there another way into the jail besides, of course, the obvious?" I asked her with an air of sarcasm.

She gripped onto my chest fur for support, thinking a little. "Hmm…yeah! Rumor has it that the people who used to live here built the prison over a graveyard here before the times of the Ancients."

I made a face. If that meant dealing with spirits of angry Ancients (that is, people who lived before the common era), then I wasn't into it. My stomach clenched in response. "Yeah. And?"

She giggled, looking up at me. I could feel her fingers tracing my muzzle. "What's wrong, Sonic? Afraid of ghosts?"

"No way!" I growled, pulling away from her playfully. "So, about the Ancients' graveyard?"

She looked puzzled for a moment, and I waited as patiently as I could for her to remember her train of thought. "Oh! Right! Well, local superstition has it that a guard heard someone tapping on the wall, so he took out the brick. Of course," she shrugged. "No one was there. But, the government never bothered to seal it up properly, so…"

I was always one to catch on quick. My bright green eyes shone on her in the darkness of this strange land. "There's a false brick?!"

"Well, it _is_ just a legend…" She mused. "Wanna give it a shot?"

It was a shot into complete darkness. But, it was our _only _shot right now. And, with two lives on the line, it was a shot I wanted to take. "Totally!" I answered before speeding up.

Her screams were lost in the wind I was making.

_This is just a little prelude. It will probably be replaced with the full chapter, but this is what I've got for now so…enjoy while you can! _


End file.
